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9/11Robot Monster (1953)
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- Publication date
- 1953-06-24
- Usage
- Public Domain Mark 1.0
- Topics
- robot monster, b-movie, b movie, science fiction, public domain, so bad it's good, ro-man, cheesy
- Language
- English
- Item Size
- 191.6M
Regarded by many as one of the worst films ever made, Robot Monster (1953) is a science fiction film in which a monster named Ro-Man (who looks like a gorilla with a diver's helmet) tries to destroy the last remaining humans on the planet Earth. The movie, directed by Phil Tucker, was shot in four days in Bronson Canyon, although some scenes were filmed in a house near Los Angeles. Many of the film's special effects are stock footage taken from other films, including One Million B.C. (1940), Lost Continent (1951), and Flight To Mars (1951), as well as newsreel footage of the Rocketship-XM boarding from 1950. A special credit in the opening credits is given to the "Billion Bubble Machine", which appears in the film as Ro-Man's communication device. The music was provided by well-known film composer Elmer Bernstein, who would later go on to compose the music for films such as The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Ghostbusters (1984). The film was originally released and shot in 3-D, although subsequent releases have shown it in standard 2-D.
The film was panned by critics upon its release, and has since gained a lasting legacy and reputation as "one of the worst movies ever made", with critics also citing that the film has an enjoyable, so bad it's good quality to it, notably with Ro-Man's design and the bubble machine, among many other things. The film would also be one of the first subjects of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1989-1999), where it would be featured and riffed in the show's seventh episode of its first season.
